Operation Amazing Tara
by RySenkari
Summary: When two of the spies' most dangerous enemies break out of containment, Jerry recruits a new agent to the team... Lee's athletic rival, Tara Prefontaine! But when Tara's ego and reckless pride cause dischord, can the Clarks and their new teammate survive?
1. The New Recruit

Southdale Jr. High was abuzz with activity as the four Clark siblings gathered in one of the school's crowded hallways before the start of first period. Most of the chatter taking place centered around the annual homecoming dance, just three days away. As students laughed and gossiped about who was going with who, the gathered siblings had one thing on each of their minds… none of them had any idea who would be their dates to the dance.

"Three days left and I still can't find a date," muttered Lee, the eldest of the Clarks, as he pulled two thick books out of his locker. "Don't tell anybody, you guys, but I'm starting to get pretty desperate."

"You're the captain of all the sports teams and one of the most popular guys in school," said Megan skeptically, rolling her green eyes. "How is it even possible that you don't have a date yet?" 

Lee stammered over his response, too embarrassed to reveal the reason he was currently dateless. As Megan stood with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face, her older brother began to dance around the subject.

"Well you see, it's gotta be just the right girl, you know? She's gotta be cute, but she can't be TOO cute or I'll have set my standards way too high for the next dance, and furthermore-"

"Let me guess," replied Marc. "You got asked out by a bunch of different girls and you took so long to figure out which one you were going with that they all got fed up with waiting and asked other guys."

"….yeah, that's about it," Lee replied, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"I wish I had that problem!" blurted out Tony, leaning back against one of the nearby lockers. "Couldn't you have been nice enough to give me one of those girls before letting them all get away?"

"None of them would've gone out with you because none of them like dating younger guys," said Lee with a bit of a laugh. As Tony scowled at his brother's remark, Marc's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead suddenly. "Hey Marc, what's wrong?"

"All this talk about the homecoming dance reminds me, I forgot to ask Sheena Weston to the dance! I can't believe I forgot, our date last time went really well and she said she wanted to go out with me again sometime but I forgot and now she probably thinks I don't like her!"

"Don't worry about it, Marc, maybe she still hasn't asked anybody," said Megan, placing a hand on Marc's shoulder. "And a girl who would ask someone out knowing they're already dating a guy isn't a girl you should be in a relationship anyway."

"Speaking of relationships, I've gotta find a girl to take to the dance!" Lee said, his voice quickening with nervousness. "There's no way I can go by myself, do you guys know what it would do to my reputation around here?"

"Lee?" came a high-pitched voice from down the hall. The Clark siblings all recognized it, and turned their heads to see a girl with well-styled blonde hair walking over to them. The girl blew off the three younger Clarks and went immediately to Lee, coming close enough to him so that their bodies were almost touching. Lee quickly backed off, which only prompted the girl to lean in a bit more. "Did I hear you say you didn't have a girl to take to the dance with you?"

The girl was Tami, who usually spent most of her time picking on the Clarks and pretty much everyone else at Southdale who wasn't as popular as her. Her particular distaste for the Clark siblings was dulled by her serious crush on Lee, who tended to reject her advances with politeness or by dodging her remarks. This time, however, it didn't seem as if there would be any way to avoid a direct request.

"Uh… well… you see…" Lee stammered nervously, quickly looking over to his siblings for help. They all backed off, Megan wearing a 'you're on your own for this one' expression on her face. _"Oh great, thanks for the help, guys!"_

"Because I'll _totally _go to the dance with you," said Tami sweetly, making goo-goo eyes at Lee and leaning in even more. "I've been waiting for the perfect moment and this is it!"

Lee nervously gulped, tugging at the collar of his shirt as Tami continued trying to woo him. As she got almost close enough for them to touch, the bell to signal first period began to ring.

"Oh, bad luck, looks like it's time for class!" said Lee quickly, turning away so fast that it caused Tami to nearly lose her balance. He walked over to Megan and the others and gestured for them to hurry up as well. "I'll talk to you about it later, Tami!"

"Okay Lee, but remember, the dance is in three days!" Tami shouted at Lee as he and his siblings made their way down the hall.

"Talk about saved by the bell," Lee groaned, wiping away the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead. He continued to walk for a few more seconds, when he suddenly remembered something he'd forgotten to do. "…oh crud, I left my locker open!"

Lee ran back to his locker with Megan and the others, hoping none of his stuff had been taken while his locker had hung open for more than a minute unattended.

"Come on, Lee, you're gonna make us all late!" shouted Tony impatiently.

"We really didn't have to follow him back to his locker," Marc said, turning away as his older brother made sure that nothing was missing. "I think we should leave Lee to his-"

Suddenly, a powerful force began sucking the four siblings into the open locker. They barely had time to scream before they were pulled in through a tunnel that had opened in the back, leading to a long, twisting chute through the darkness.

"Just our luck to get WOOHPed right before class!" exclaimed Megan.

"Now I'm really feeling stupid for following Lee back to his locker…!" Marc cried.

The four children continued down the chute until they landed on a couch in a large, clean office. The familiar office was usually an unwelcome sight for them, and today was no exception.

"I hope you arranged for a way to keep us out of trouble for being tardy!" Marc said, both worry and anger in his voice. "I've got a perfect attendance record in Mrs. Londes' first period chemistry class and I don't want it ruined by a surprise WOOHPing!"

"Never fear, Marc," said the mustached man behind the desk, whom the four youths knew as Jerry. "The standard holograms have been generated to take your place until I'm finished with you."

"That's a relief," said Megan, "but why call us in so urgently?"

"Yeah," Lee added, "you usually wouldn't call us in before first period unless some really bad stuff was going down."

"Really bad stuff is right, Lee," Jerry replied, his voice quickly growing serious. "I've got some quite distressing news. It seems the twin criminal masterminds Alpha and Omega have escaped from containment once again."

The announcement shocked all four spies, whose simultaneous startled exclamations filled the office.

"Quite right," said Jerry, bringing up an image on the computerized screen hanging above his desk. On the screen were images of Alpha and Omega's dramatic escape, which involved the destruction of several WOOHP helicopters and saw dozens of agents incapacitated as the twins wreaked havoc at a WOOHP prison facility. "As you can see, the twins remain as dangerous as ever, especially now that they're at large."

"How the heck are we gonna stop 'em?" asked Tony, blinking his eyes quickly.

"Last time we fought Alpha and Omega we had mom and dad helping us," Megan noted, "but I doubt Jerry can restore them to active WOOHP duty again…"

"I have another plan," said Jerry. "I've decided to take on a new agent. She was recruited from your school and she passed all the training courses with ease."

"She?" Tony blurted out. "There's a new girl in WOOHP?"

"I hope she's cute!" said Lee excitedly.

"I hope it's Sheena!" Marc chimed in.

"I just hope it's not Tami," Megan said, causing her three brothers to look over at her.

"Tami? Get real," said Lee dismissively. "The day Tami joins WOOHP is the day I give up weightlifting and protein shakes!"

"Spies, I'd like you all to meet the newest member of WOOHP," said Jerry, as a clear glass capsule was lowered into the room, containing a silhouetted figure. The four Clark siblings leaned forward in anticipation, curious to see just who their newest teammate would be. "Here she is, Ms. Tara Prefontaine."

The capsule retracted into the ceiling, leaving the person it had deposited standing before the spies, a proud smile on her face. Megan's eyes widened and she was the first to give a big smile at Tara's arrival.

"Awesome!" said Megan, once again awestruck by the highly athletic girl standing before her. "Welcome to the team, Tara!"

While Megan was happy, and Marc and Tony were mostly indifferent, Lee stood with his mouth agape, wondering how his athletic rival could've possibly gotten into the world's greatest spy organization.

"Hmm, looks like someone's not happy to see me," said Tara, continuing to smirk at Lee. "Or did your face just get stuck that way?"

"Miss Prefontaine broke the record on the WOOHP obstacle course during her initial examinations," noted Jerry proudly.

"That was my record!" Lee shouted, his eyes still wide in amazement.

"Guess that makes another of your records I've broken," said Tara, walking over to Lee and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure it was a nice long ride at the top for you, huh?"

"She also beat me at the science fair with that computer of hers…" said Marc, the annoyance in his voice betraying his dismay.

"And she beat my record for highest jump at the skate park!" Tony added. 

"She planted more trees than me in the Young Arboreal Competition, but you don't see me whining about Tara being here," said Megan, groaning at her jealous brothers. "I think Tara will be a great addition to the team!" 

"You're just happy because it means us guys don't outnumber you three to one," said Lee, crossing his arms over his chest. "But we still outnumber you three to two!"

"Awww, you can count?" Tara cooed tauntingly. "I don't mind being outnumbered, I bet I could take all three of you on!"

"Oh yeah?" Lee shouted back, leaning forward and clenching his fists.

"Great comeback," said Tara casually, "but don't make me mad or I'll-"

"Both of you need to calm down," said Jerry, "and focus on the mission ahead. It's a very dangerous mission and I was reluctant to assign a rookie agent to the job, even one with Tara's talents. Tara, you're to follow the instructions given to you by Lee and the others during the mission, it's of utmost importance that you stay safe and learn from them during this time."

"Yeah yeah, okay," said Tara, turning away from Lee to face Jerry. "So, what's the mission?"

Jerry filled Tara in quickly on Alpha and Omega's recent activities, adding that they were last spotted robbing a rest stop on the highway leading into Southdale.

"It looks like they're coming to your hometown, spies," said Jerry, noticing that WOOHP's GPS trackers had placed the twins about twenty miles from the city and closing quickly.

"Probably to get revenge for us stopping them last time," said Megan.

"You must intercept them before they reach Southdale, who knows what kind of havoc they could cause? For this mission, you'll all be receiving the suction cup dart guns…"

"A kid's toy?" Tara said dismissively, picking up what looked like a blue plastic toy gun off the gadget table. She pointed the gun at Lee's face.

"Careful with that, Tara, it's not a toy," said Jerry. "The suction cup darts it fires can expand into rubber encasements to trap any criminal they touch. The gun can also be set to grapple mode, the suction cups will stick to buildings and you'll be able to climb up on the rope that fires out."

"Awesome!" said Tony, posing briefly with the gun before pointing to a small, orange switch on the side. "But what's this one-"

Tara had already flicked the switch to its third setting and fired at Lee's face, causing a small dart to emerge from the gun. Before Lee could react, the dart expanded so that the suction cup was the size of his face, and the rubber quickly affixed to it, causing his entire face to be covered. An eight-inch foam handle stuck comically out from the suction cup.

"That can be used to cover up a criminal's face and prevent them from seeing," said Jerry in a monotone, as Megan and Marc both tried to help Lee pull the large dart off of his face while Tony began laughing loudly.

"Or speaking," Tara remarked, smirking at the fact that all of Lee's angry exclamations were muffled by the suction cup. "Guess this toy is pretty cool after all."

After Marc and Megan finally managed to pry the dart off of Lee, he stood glaring at Tara with a large, circular red mark on his face.

"That wasn't funny!" shouted Lee, "and the next time you use a WOOHP gadget on me is gonna be your last, got it?"

"You really should be more careful, Tara," said Megan, in a much calmer tone. "If that had been something more dangerous, Lee could've been seriously hurt!"

"She's right, Tara, consider this one of your first lessons, never be reckless with WOOHP equipment around one of your fellow agents," said Jerry.

"I know, I know," said Tara, nodding her head. "Can't we just get this show on the road?"

Jerry nodded and quickly described the other gadgets that the spies would be using, passing them out and reminding them that they didn't have very much time to catch Alpha and Omega.

"Okay then, let's go!" shouted Lee, striking a familiar pose. The four Clark siblings quickly changed into their spy uniforms, punctuating the instantaneous appearance of the uniforms with quick poses and loud battle cries.

Not one to be outdone, Tara threw a series of punches and kicks as she began changing, punctuating everything with several elaborate flips, the final one propelling her several feet into the air as she landed in a victorious pose, her arms outstretched high in the air as she stood in a shimmering gold bodysuit similar to that worn by the other spies. She was also standing right in front of them. The four Clarks looked over at her as she posed, all of them silent and blinking.

"Uh… a little much?" Lee said quietly.

"You WISH you could pose as awesomely as me," Tara replied. "Now let's go kick some twin tooshy!"

O-O-O

Meanwhile, in a big 18-wheel semi truck that was barreling down the highway toward Southdale, sat two of the world's most vicious criminals… the wicked and creepy twins Alpha and Omega. Alpha sat at the wheel, a smirk on his face matched by his twin brother.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Omega asked jokingly before launching into a burst of laughter. "Oh, I can barely contain my excitement!"

"We'll be in those spies' hometown in fifteen minutes, and then we'll be free to wreck up the place to our hearts' content!" Alpha declared, pressing his foot down hard on the gas and pushing the truck as fast as it would go.

The truck continued on until the twins could see five specks toward the top of their windshield. The specks grew larger and larger, and could soon be identified as people. Omega gave another gleeful laugh as he realized who was coming.

"Brother, it seems the spies have decided to come to us instead!" shouted Omega, twitching in anticipation. "That'll shave off some of our driving time!"

"Oh, we're still wrecking their town," said Alpha, continuing to drive even as the kid spies approached. "The only difference is that now they won't be there to see the aftermath!"

Up in the air, the Clarks and Tara could spot the truck speeding down below. They began swooping down to meet it, all except Tara feeling a familiar nervousness creeping up as they prepared to engage the dangerous twins.

"Remember, these guys are capable of anything," said Lee.

"And so am I!" Tara interrupted, increasing the thrust on her jet boots and plummeting down toward the truck. _"Man, these things are awesome!"_

"Tara, wait!" Lee shouted as Megan let out a gasp. "You can't take those guys alone!"

Thinking quickly, Megan increased the thrust to her own boots and flew down after Tara.

"You guys stick to the plan!" shouted Megan as she briefly looked back up to her brothers. "I'll make sure Tara doesn't get herself killed!"

Inside the truck, the twins could see that one of the spies had broken off from the pack. It was a figure unfamiliar to them, but they weren't intimidated in the least by their unknown attacker.

"Seems this girl's a glutton for punishment," said Alpha.

"Well then, let's feed her!" Omega replied, leaping out of the passenger side window and up onto the top of the truck's cabin. "Oh little girl, come and catch me if you can!" 

"All right then, if you insist!" Tara said, smiling and pointing her dart gun at Omega. She'd set it for containment mode, and soon, a small dart was heading right for Omega's forehead. On contact, it expanded into a large sheet of orange rubber that completely encased his body, causing the twin to roll onto the top of the truck's cargo container. "Ha! One down already!"

Tara did a victorious pose as the bag containing Omega began to squirm on top of the truck. Megan stopped and did a quick double-take, wondering if Tara really had just captured one of the world's most dangerous beings that easily.

"_Wow, I guess they really weren't expecting that…"_

Meanwhile, Lee, Tony, and Marc had split off into a triangular-shaped attack formation to wait for the truck's next move. They too could see that Tara had incapacitated Omega, and Lee couldn't help but be both a little impressed and a little jealous.

"Beginner's luck," said Lee to himself, continuing to watch as the bag squirmed on top of the truck. "…huh?"

The bag was beginning to flex and distend, though Tara was preoccupied with the truck's cabin, flying backward to get a good shot at Alpha as he began to pass beneath her.

"And now for the other one…" Tara said quietly, reading her shot. On top of the truck, the bag containing Omega suddenly ripped open, and without warning, two long arms stretched toward the oblivious rookie spy.

"It's never that easy!" Omega shouted with a laugh.

"Look out!" Megan suddenly cried, flying at Tara and pushing her out of the way. Omega's double punch missed Tara and landed a glancing blow on Megan, bruising her cheek. The impact send her plummeting to the road below, where she took a hard landing in the middle of one of the lanes, letting out a loud cry of pain. "Nnnnngggh!"

"MEGAN!" Marc shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes wide with terror as he watched his sister impact the pavement. Tony and Lee were both equally frightened, and as Tara looked down to see why she had been pushed, she too couldn't help but gasp and feel a twinge of fear go down her spine.

"_That… that could've been me!" _thought Tara, her confidence wavering for the first time. _"Megan, I…!"_

On the ground, Megan let out a groan. Because of her spy suit, the impact against the hard asphalt had only dazed her, but she wasn't out of the woods yet. She looked up to see a red Chrysler barreling toward her at seventy-five miles at hour, unable to brake fast enough to avoid hitting her. The girl looked up and gasped, realizing that within a few split-seconds, she'd become a smear on the pavement.

"_Oh no…!" _Megan thought, placing a hand to her lips.

Just an instant before impact, Megan was lifted to safety by her brother Marc, who had broken formation just in time to reach Megan and carry her up into the air, preventing a horrific tragedy. Megan and Marc both breathed the biggest relieved sighs of their lives, while Tony had already decided to go after Omega, wanting to make the twin pay for nearly killing his sister. The youngest of the Clarks landed on the truck and faced down Omega, swallowing his fear as he engaged the criminal in a one-on-one staredown.

"You're not gonna make it to our town, you big jerk!" shouted Tony, putting up his fists. "And you're not gonna get away for hitting Megan!"

"Blah blah blah, so much talk, but can you back it up?" asked Omega, crouching down into a fighting stance. "Well, can you?"

Tony ran at Omega and threw as quick and as powerful a punch he could at the villain's head, only for Omega to disappear completely, as if he'd teleported away. As Tony whirled around, the villain emerged right behind him, stunning the boy with a kick so fierce it knocked him all the way to the back of the cargo container.

"Unnnh… maybe this was a bad idea…" Tony groaned, picking himself up from the metallic floor. While Tony was getting ready to try again, Tara and Lee flew over to Marc and Megan, whose brief flirtation with danger had left them far behind the truck… and far behind Tony.

"What were you thinking?" shouted Lee as Tara came over to talk to Megan. Tara nervously rubbed the back of her head, but her proud nature wasn't about to let her admit fault.

"I thought I had a good shot, okay?" Tara replied. "I hit him, didn't I?"

"It's gonna take a lot more than some rubber containment bag to keep those twins down, trust me," said Marc, still holding the dazed Megan until she could support herself and stay off the ground. "It was really reckless to break formation, Tara…"

Tara let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry about what happened, Megan… if I had gotten you hurt-"

"Don't feel bad, Tara," Megan replied with a smile. "We're all okay and that's all that matters."

"But-" Lee stammered, clearly wanting to continue his tirade. _"Come on, Megan, she nearly got you killed! I'm not just gonna let her get off with half a talking-to!"_

"There'll be time for yelling later, right now the twins are getting away… and Tony's missing!" Megan said, her eyes widening at this last realization.

"Tony…! He must've stayed back to stop the twins!" said Lee, quickly getting his mind back into determined leader mode. "Okay guys, we have to catch up with those creepy twins… and Tara-"

"I know, I know, do everything you say," said Tara, rolling her eyes. "Tony needs our help, let's go save him!"

The spies gave quick pursuit, flying off as fast as their jet boots would take them. Back on top of the truck, Omega was giving Tony everything he could handle, and then some. The young boy had been battered around the small battlefield and was now favoring his right arm after it had been the target of a vicious sweeping kick.

"I'm surprised you're still standing!" Omega taunted, watching as Tony staggered toward him.

"I'm not giving up!" Tony shouted fearlessly. _"Oh man, if the others don't get here soon I'm as good as roadkill!"_

Tony took out his dart gun and fired a shot at Omega's face, hoping to blind him. The dart flew quickly at its target, but Omega swiftly dodged and the projectile sailed harmlessly past him. Tony tried several more times, but Omega dodged each dart, and soon, the gun was completely out of ammunition.

"Aw, crud!" shouted Tony, trying to switch settings on the gun, only to have it suddenly kicked out of his hands. "!"

"Enough of that now!" said Omega, lunging forward and grabbing the boy by the throat. "I think this is where you get off!"

Tony struggled as Omega pushed him backward toward the edge of the truck. His eyes grew wide and he tightly gripped around Omega's wrist, desperately trying to keep a grip on him before being flung off. He could feel his feet starting to lift up off the back of the cargo container.

"_This is it…!" _thought Tony, snapping his eyes closed.

"Tony!" shouted Lee, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and flying toward his younger brother and Omega. He withdrew another gadget from his belt, a handful of Clingy Static Sticky Burrs. "Eat this, Omega!"

Lee threw the small red objects, which somewhat resembled toy jacks, down at Omega from above. The objects stuck to Omega's clothing like burrs, dispensing a quick electrical shock that temporarily stunned the villain and paralyzed his limbs.

"Eeeeggghhh!" grunted Omega, dropping Tony from his grip. Tony's feet hit the edge of the truck and the boy wobbled for a brief moment, nearly falling off before a gentle hand pushed him forward. The yellow-clad boy looked back and up to see Marc holding him steady and keeping him from falling.

"Whoa, thanks!" said Tony, who then looked up to see Megan and Tara sweeping above his head. "Are they going to stop Alpha?"

"Heck yeah we are!" said Tara, looking over at Megan who was flying alongside her. "Aim for the tires, right?"

"Right!" Megan replied. The two girls flew down along both sides of the truck, while Lee, Tony, and Marc quickly flew up and off.

"Let's hope this works," said Lee, while a worried thought echoed through the back of his mind. _"And let's hope Tara doesn't get reckless and screw it up…"_

The two girls flew in perfect formation, holding small aerosol cans in their hands. Out of the cans came a blue substance that coated the wheels of the big rig in slippery ice, causing them to quickly lose their traction. Once all the tires had been coated, Megan and Tara flew up and over the truck to join the other spies.

"Neat Instant Icing Spray," said Tara as she looked at the can. "Why couldn't I have just used this on Alpha and Omega from the start?"

"Very limited range, you have to be real close to what you're spraying," replied Megan. "And by the time you got close enough, those two would probably be able to beat you."

"Not likely," said Tara.

As she and the Clark siblings watched, Alpha and Omega's 18-wheeler began to run off the road. Still somewhat paralyzed atop the truck, Omega let out a loud gasp and raced to climb inside the cabin just as the truck rolled off the side of the pavement, hitting the grass hard and breaking through the guardrail. The truck tumbled into a field and kicked up a spectacular cloud of dust, rolling over several times before coming to a stop in the middle of the field as a twisted heap of metal.

"Wow, that stopped them dead in their tracks," noted Tara with a smirk.

"Yeah, we really should've done that sooner," Tony added.

"We had to wait until there weren't many other cars on the road, and until the truck had reached a spot where it wouldn't hit anything or anyone when it rolled off," said Megan. "Come on guys, let's go catch them before they get away!"

The five spies flew over to the site of the wreckage while a quizzical look appeared on Tara's face.

"Catch them?" Tara asked, raising an eyebrow. "I think after all that we should probably be more worried about whether they ended up in one piece! I assume WOOHP wants all the bad guys it captures to be taken alive."

"Trust me, they're in one piece," said Marc, a worried tone in his voice. The five landed near the crash site and began walking toward the battered, crumpled truck as smoke and dust filled the air around them. The five split up to perform a thorough inspection of the wreck. "They should both be in the cabin…"

"Well, they're not," said Tara, peering inside. "There's nothing in here at all…"

"That's not possible," said Lee, quickly going over to inspect the cabin himself. "…maybe they got into the back somehow?"

"Nope," Megan replied, looking over the big, twisted piece of metal that used to be the truck's cargo compartment. "No sign of them in here either!"

"You gotta be kidding!" Tony shouted, looking over the side of the wreck. "There's no way they could've gotten out that fast!"

"The wreck kicked up an awful lot of dust, they probably slipped out in the dust cloud," said Marc, prompting Lee to give an exasperated sigh.

"They got away," groaned Lee.

"Look on the bright side," replied Tara. "We wrecked their ride and bought ourselves some time. The next time they show up, we'll pound them!"

"The next time they show up, they could be destroying all of downtown Southdale!" Lee said, sighting again. "I guess we better call and tell Jerry that Alpha and Omega got away… maybe he can help us track them down before they reach the city."

Lee took out his communicator and informed Jerry of the situation, to which Jerry responded with a bit of disappointment, though he'd anticipated that Alpha and Omega wouldn't be caught so quickly.

"At least they're not racing toward Southdale in a speeding truck," said Jerry, prompting Tara to lean her head into view.

"That's what I said! We'll find those two jerks and kick their butts faster than you can say-"

"Tara was really reckless today," Lee said, pushing the girl out of the way. "She charged into the fight without any order from me and she nearly got Megan and Tony hurt!"

"I wanted to stop them!" Tara shouted, clenching her teeth and her fists. "If you'd just let me kick their butts before, they wouldn't be on the loose now!" 

"You can't kick their butts, they're too strong for any of us to face alone! Last time it took all of us AND our parents and even then we just barely-"

"Who's the one who set all the new WOOHP records, huh? If anyone can bring them down it's me!"

"We work as a team!"

"Enough, both of you!" shouted Megan, pushing Lee and Tara away from each other. As they tried to get in each other's faces again, Marc and Tony tried to hold them both back, with very little success. "This fighting isn't getting us any closer to taking down Alpha and Omega!"

"I agree with Megan. You all need to return to school immediately. I'll keep tabs on any sign of the terrible twins and you'll be notified as soon as I've spotted them. Get some rest and try to work out your differences, I'll need all of you working together on all cylinders to recapture these two!"

Jerry's words managed to calm down both Tara and Lee, and the two of them turned away from each other after Lee had put up his communicator. Though Tara was proving to be a skilled spy and a potentially valuable member of the team, Lee's mind was filled with doubts, and he knew that he couldn't let the headstrong girl endanger any of his siblings again.

"_The next time she messes up, it's over!" _thought Lee, his arms across his chest. _"It'll either be her leaving WOOHP, or me!"_

Meanwhile, Tara was equally steamed, her eyes focused on the sky in a cold glare.

"_Who does he think he is, anyway? Bossing me around? If anyone should be leader of the team, it's me! Next time, I'll show him!"_

O-O-O

The Clark siblings and Tara resumed their normal school day just after lunch, the holograms having provided them enough cover for their absences not to be noticed. They tried to get through school smoothly, but their minds continued to drift back to Alpha and Omega and the serious threat they both posed. Lee and Tara's minds were focused on each other. They tried not to speak or look at each other as they sat in classes together or passed in the halls, but they couldn't help shooting each other glares throughout the day.

After the last class ended, Megan, Marc, and Tony went to the bus to head back home. Lee stayed behind, looking for Tara. He still had to tell her how he felt about what had happened earlier that day.

He spotted Tara behind the school, staring across the back parking lot toward the athletic fields. As he went to confront her, she raced off to the running track and began sprinting around it as fast as she could.

"_What's she doing?" _Lee asked himself, running after Tara. _"Didn't she hear Jerry say that we had to keep our strength up?"_

Lee continued to run, but Tara was somewhat faster, and soon, the redheaded boy found himself further and further behind. Tara shot Lee a smile as she looked back, acknowledging his presence… which only seemed to make Lee more and more angry.

"_She's ignoring me on purpose!" _thought Lee. "Tara… wait… wait!"

After several attempts to call out to her, Lee redoubled his efforts in catching her, but was soon more than a hundred feet off the pace. Letting out a loud sigh, he decided to stop and turn around, racing off in the other direction to meet her at the finish line. Tara continued to sprint, her powerful legs bursting with speed, shuttling her around the track at a prodigious pace. She saw Lee standing still about a hundred feet in front of her.

"_What is he doing, is he trying to get me to run into him? I'd better see what he wants…" _

Tara came to a stop just a few feet away from Lee, putting her hands on her hips and locking eyes with him.

"What do YOU want?" Tara asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought Jerry told us to stop arguing."

"I don't want to argue with you, Tara…" replied Lee, trying to inject some calmness into his voice. "I just want you to know that if you're going to be a part of WOOHP, we have to work as a team."

"I don't mind being part of a team," said Tara. "I'm on the track team, I'm on the swim team, I'm trying to get them to let me be a part of the basketball and football teams…"

Lee groaned.

"I meant that we have to work together, stick to a plan, one of us can't just go off on their own, okay? No matter how good you think you are, there's always someone better."

"Like how I'm better than you?" asked Tara, leaning down and smiling.

"_I'm not even getting through to her…!" _thought Lee, continuing to resist the urge to raise his voice. "Tara, I know how you feel… I'm just as competitive as you. Sometimes I feel like I just have to do stuff on my own, but it can get me into trouble…"

Lee was having a hard time admitting his faults, especially to someone like Tara, who he knew would probably just make fun of him afterward. He thought that perhaps if he put his pride aside, he could make her do the same. He continued.

"Like this one time, there was this guy called Mel, and he captured some of the older spies. I was really mad because, well… it's complicated, but I ended up trying to go after him myself, and I got caught too. So-"

"So you were careless and you got caught. Or maybe it's because you weren't good enough. Do you actually think I'd let something like that happen to me? I'm Tara Prefontaine, the best athlete, mathlete, computer genius, skateboarder, scholar, young environmentalist, citizen, and all-around achiever at Southdale Junior High! I never back down from a challenge or a fight and I never surrender! And if you think you're gonna scare me with some story about how a bad guy caught you, you can think again! Next time we see Alpha and Omega I'll show you how good I really am! Now… got anything else to say?"

Lee couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd poured his heart out to Tara, he'd tried to be calm and not get into a fight with her, and she still dismissed him and everything he'd told her. It was clear to Lee that Tara was going to be a huge danger to herself, to him, and to his three younger siblings by completely wrecking their team chemistry.

"_Someone like her doesn't belong in WOOHP at all…! I've got to tell Jerry how I feel about this before Alpha and Omega have a chance to take advantage of this and destroy us all!"_

Lee's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to tell Tara everything he was _really _thinking. It was then that his and Tara's communicators both went off at the same time.

"Spies, it's an emergency! Alpha and Omega are attacking the city! I've already sent Megan, Marc, and Tony to deal with the situation but you two have to head downtown immediately!"

"Jerry," Lee began, looking over at Tara. "I have to-"

"There's no time! Suit up and get downtown on the double!"

"You heard him, Lee," said Tara, pressing the red button on her communicator that caused her to instantly change into her gold spy suit. "Time to beat those twins down!"

"…right," Lee said nervously, changing into his own red outfit and getting ready to move. _"I just hope Tara doesn't get us all killed…"_

O-O-O

_To be continued…_


	2. Pride Before The Fall

Screams of hundreds of fleeing civilians were punctuated by the sounds of multiple loud explosions ripping through downtown Southdale. Alpha and Omega had acquired a large bazooka on their trek from the outskirts of the city, and they were firing at whatever they could, narrowly missing the innocent bystanders fleeing in all directions.

"Oh, this is fun!" cackled Alpha, pointing the twins' bazooka at a large restaurant as Omega chased after a group of screaming office workers. "Run, run, as fast as you can! There's no escape!"

Alpha fired just as the last of the restaurant's patrons had cleared out, blasting the valuable property to pieces and raining shards of glass and debris on the people trying to escape. Fires blazed all around, and the city's police department was racing to the scene, establishing a perimeter and blocking off anyone who tried to get too close to the twins.

"Attention, criminal miscreants!" shouted an officer over a megaphone as he crouched behind his squad car. "This is the Southdale Police! Put your hands up!"

"Aw, but you didn't say 'simon says'," Alpha said mockingly, pointing his bazooka at the car. "My turn! Simon says explode!"

Alpha fired a round at the squad car, causing the officers hiding behind it to quickly leap away. The shot destroyed the car in a matter of seconds, lighting it up in a blaze of fire that made the twins cackle simultaneously. The officers pointed their guns at the twins, only to have them suddenly pulled away as Omega stretched out a gloved palm. He collected the guns from the officers, reeling them in with the powerful electromagnet hidden in his glove.

"Sorry, no weapons allowed," said Omega, crushing the guns into a large piece of scrap metal with his bare hands as the horrified officers looked on. "No weapons except for ours!"

Alpha readied his bazooka again. Suddenly, five figures were seen streaking overhead, soaring over the police barricade and landing near the twins.

"Don't worry, officers, we'll take it from here," said Lee with a smile.

"Yeah, so clear out!" Tara added unnecessarily. "Shoo! We can handle this!"

"It's not nice to disrespect the police!" Megan said, glaring over at Tara.

"Whoa…" Marc said in astonishment as he got a chance to glimpse at the group's surroundings. "This place looks like a battlefield… did anyone get hurt?"

"Nobody's hurt but these two nuts caused a ton of property damage," said one of the officers. "You kids sure you can handle this? Maybe you should leave before-"

"They came in on jet boots," another officer said, starting to back off. "Somehow, I think these kids can handle the situation a lot better than we can."

The police retreated to a safe distance, leaving the five spies to deal with Alpha and Omega. Alpha began to laugh.

"Oh, are you sure it was so smart to send them away? There were so many of them…" Alpha said.

"So many of them for you guys to hurt!" Lee shouted back, taking a fighting stance. He was still nervous about Tara's presence, and was almost certain she'd try something reckless. He could see her twitching, chomping at the bit to get in on the action. For her sake and for the sake of his siblings and himself, he knew the twins had to go down fast. "Let's see you pick on someone your own size!"

"Oooh, real intimidating," Tara said, rolling her eyes. "How about, 'I'm gonna smear you punks on the pavement!'"

With those words, Tara suddenly charged forward at the closest twin she could see, which was Omega. She reared back and struck with a quick, powerful punch that the twin managed to block by crossing his arms in front of his face in the shape of an X. The force of the blow still sent him skidding backward, his feet scraping along the ground.

"Tara, that was really-" Megan was about to say 'reckless', but couldn't finish before Tara finished for her.

"Awesome? I know," said Tara, charging Omega again. Smiling, Omega leapt backward toward a damaged five-story apartment building, flipping himself up along the side of the structure until he was on the fifth floor.

"Catch me if you can!" Omega taunted. Tara smiled, accepting the challenge and vaulting herself up along the side of the building by grabbing the fire escape and flipping herself up the side. Lee watched in astonishment and dread.

"Tara, no!" shouted Lee. "Get back here right now, it's a trap!" 

"Ha ha!" Alpha suddenly laughed, firing his bazooka down at the feet of the four Clark siblings. They all managed to leap back in time, but the explosion still knocked them down and generated a cloud of smoke that temporarily blinded them.

"What do we do now?" Tony groaned through a series of coughs. "We got separated from Tara!" 

"Well, the twins separated from each other too, so… four on one is pretty good odds, right?" asked Megan, looking over at Marc.

"I agree, if we fight smart we can take Alpha down!" Marc said confidently. Lee nodded and quickly began to formulate a plan.

"All right spies, surround Alpha and don't let him fire that thing again!" said Lee, quickly moving toward Alpha to rip the bazooka out of his hands. The villain responded by leaping back and pointing the weapon right at Lee's head.

"Say goodnight, Lee Clark!" shouted Alpha, putting his finger on the trigger and preparing to fire. Suddenly, he found the bazooka yanked out of his hands and right into Tony's. The youngest spy had quickly taken his suction cup gun and had fired at the bazooka, using the climb function to generate a suction cup connected to a rope that he then used to pull the weapon right from Alpha's hands. "What the?"

"I got his bazooka thingy!" Tony said, grabbing Alpha's weapon and clutching it tightly in his hands.

"Great job, Tony!" Lee complimented, knowing he'd been just a second away from having his head blown off. _"Guess I should learn to be more careful too… but now we've all got Tara to worry about!"_

O-O-O

Tara pursued Omega into the building, ignoring the smoke that was billowing into the halls from the nearby window. She could hear his footsteps as he fled further away.

"_You're not getting away from me," _thought Tara, placing her hand on her can of Instant Freeze Spray. _"I'm gonna make a bad guy popsicle outta you!"_

Tara could hear the footsteps come to a stop, in a room down the hall from where she was standing. She passed several doors as she strode across the hard floor, sniffing smoke nearby but unattentive to any danger she might be in. She was aware that she could be walking into a trap, but also confident that she'd be ready for anything.

"_I'll show Lee what I can do… he thinks I can't handle myself as a spy, he's probably just jealous of me!" _

Tara approached the door and opened it up. To her surprise, she saw Omega standing in the middle of the small, windowless room, a creepy smile on his face as he placed his hands down near his waist.

"I knew you'd come after me," Omega said, his grin not subsiding.

"So you've decided to surrender, then?" replied Tara, putting up her fists. "That's smart, since if you don't surrender, I'll have no choice but to-"

Omega lunged at the girl, who was taken by surprise before she could ready the can of freeze spray. She lifted it up, but it was swiftly knocked out of her hands, right before Omega landed a powerful blow to her cheek that knocked her back into the wall. He continued to come at her, only to receive a kick to the chest for his trouble. The kick threw him back and allowed Tara time to recover. She took advantage, coming forward again and this time launching into a series of punches that Omega was able to swiftly block.

"Oh, you're good!" Omega said cheerfully, starting to laugh once more. "It's nice to have a challenge for once!"

"It won't be a challenge for me!" said Tara, coming forward with one last powerful uppercut that knocked her opponent into the air. Omega was stunned by the blow, and Tara allowed herself a victorious smile. _"KO!"_

But Omega was far from out. He recovered in midair, doing a single flip before landing on the ground in a three point stance, looking right up into Tara's eyes and continuing to smile in a completely unsettling way.

The only thing that emerged from his mouth was a knowing laugh.

O-O-O

Back on the street below, the four spies were pursuing Alpha as he leaped back and forth from car roof to car roof, sneering and taunting the spies the whole way.

"You can't catch me, I'm too fast!" Alpha shouted at them, before suddenly extending his arms toward Megan in an attempt to wrap around her body. Megan gasped, contorting herself between the arms to avoid being hit and wrapped up. She pointed her dart gun at Alpha's head, aiming quickly and setting her gun to 'blinding' mode.

"_Let's see how fast you run when you can't see!" _said Megan, unaware that Alpha's arms were coming back toward her from behind.

"Megan, watch out for the rebound!" Lee shouted, causing Megan to gasp and turn back. Just as Alpha's arms began wrapping around her body, Marc tackled her out of the way, causing the villain to come up empty.

"Whoa…! That was a close one," said Megan, rubbing her head and smiling gratefully at her brother. "Thanks for the save, Marc!"

Alpha's arms continued to remain outstretched, wrapping around the car and pulling it up from the ground. He lifted up the car and placed it over the two spies, preparing to crush them under its weight.

"Marc…!" Megan shouted, seeing what was about to happen to them. She grabbed her brother and quickly rolled away just as the car came crashing down beside them. "Geez, we need to get up!"

Alpha laughed and began to pick up the busted car for another try, only for Tony to come at him from the side, hitting him with a powerful tackle and knocking him through the window of another nearby car. Tony flew back to admire his handiwork as Alpha lay groaning in the backseat, but the twin's groans quickly turned into a smirk and Tony suddenly found himself with an outstretched arm wrapped tightly around his throat.

"Tony!" shouted Lee, flying over to the car Alpha was strangling his brother from. He punched his way in through the front door and climbed in through the window, leaping into the back seat and striking at Alpha with a powerful fist. Alpha released Tony and dodged to the side of the punch, then grabbed Lee by the back of the head and slammed his face hard into the steering wheel, causing the horn to make a loud noise. "Nnngh!"

"Honk if you love smashing spies!" shouted Alpha, bashing Lee's face repeatedly into the steering wheel. "Honk! Honk! Honk!"

Though dazed from repeated blows to the head, Lee quickly snapped back into his senses and stopped himself from being slammed into the steering wheel again. He turned around, grabbing Alpha by the wrist and attempting to get his arms cuffed behind him.

"You're… under arrest, you creepy-"

Alpha kicked up with both feet, knocking Lee back out the window. He landed next to Tony, who was still on the ground recovering from being choked.

"You okay, Lee?" Tony said, his voice a bit raspy. Lee nodded, brushing shards of glass out of his hair.

"I'm fine, just a bit-" Lee stopped at an unexpected sound. "Is that car… starting up?"

Alpha had hotwired the car and was now backing up, driving back over the curb from the car's parked position while aiming the front of the car right at Lee and Tony… and Marc and Megan behind them.

"Oh crud…!" Lee exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"He's trying to run us over…!" Marc shouted.

O-O-O

"What's so funny?" asked Tara as Omega continued to creepily grin up at her. "You're freaking me out!"

"Good!" said Omega, "that's the idea…"

"I've had enough of you, time to put you down!" Tara dove at Omega, attempting to pin him to the ground. He grabbed Tara by the arms and swung her forward, kicking up and throwing her into the air. She landed nearby in a controlled stance similar to the one Omega had been taking. "You won't do that again!"

The two rose at the same time and came at each other, meeting with fierce punches in the middle of the room. They dodged each other's blows and began clashing again, both of them trying to get the upper hand. Tara pushed Omega away and threw several more quick punches at him, all of which were easily dodged.

"You're pretty fast, but no one's faster than me!" Tara said proudly, coming forward with a high kick aimed straight at her opponent's head. Omega reached up, grabbing Tara by the ankle. "Oh no you don't!"

Using her powerful leg muscles, Tara spun herself around in Omega's grasp, leaping up and kicking with her other leg right at the side of Omega's head. Her other ankle was grabbed and Tara found herself with her upper body on the floor and her legs held high up in the air. With a laugh, Omega tightened his grip on Tara's ankles and flipped her over, sending her crashing hard to the floor on her face.

Tara let out a cry of pain, barely having time to spin around as Omega thrust his fist down at her face. She managed to catch his punch in her palm, but was barely able to hold him back as he continued pushing down toward her. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face.

"Getting tired yet?" Omega asked.

"You kidding? NEVER!" 

Tara raised her other arm and began punching at Omega's face, only to one again have her blows rapidly dodged. She reared back and struck one final time, a massive punch aimed right at Omega's jaw. Again, Omega moved to catch her fist. Tara smiled, and unclenched her fist, reaching forward quickly and grabbing her opponent's wrist in a tight, crushing grip.

"Gotcha," said Tara with a smirk. Using a move she'd learned from years of martial arts, she used the leverage she'd gotten to both pick herself up from the ground and push Omega forward, keeping her hold on his wrist in order to pull him into a tight, inescapable arm lock. Omega winced in pain as Tara held him in her grip. "Say uncle!"

Tara tightened her hold and wrenched Omega's arm even more awkwardly behind his back, causing him to bite his lip in pain.

"Give it up!"

Tara's grip became even tighter, though she didn't notice something wrapping itself around her waist. It was Omega's free arm, stretching longer and longer as it made its way up Tara's body.

"Huh…?" Tara exclaimed, looking down to see Omega's free arm coming up above her elbows. "What the heck are you-"

Omega then wrenched his other arm out of the stunned Tara's grip, stretching and wrapping it around both her arms to pin her completely. By the time Tara realized what was happening, her arms were totally trapped and immobilized to her sides. She started to kick, only for Omega to stretch his arms out even further, slamming the trapped spy into the hard wall.

"Hehehehe… I was expecting that the whole time!"

"You were NOT!" shouted Tara, just before Omega slammed her into the wall again. "Nnnggh!"

Now in a daze, Tara was helpless to resist as one of Omega's arms looped around her body even tighter, encasing her thighs and ankles to prevent her from kicking. Stunned but still strong, Tara fought hard in his grasp, determined to break free and win the fight.

"Struggle all you like, those muscles of yours are useless now!"

"You piece of crud, I'm gonna wail on you so hard when I get free!" Tara shouted, angrily fighting against Omega's grip. "You cheating dirtbag!"

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me… but this might hurt you!" shouted Omega, just before slamming Tara into the wall again.

"OW!" Tara cried, wincing in pain as she sustained another blow. _"This can't be happening!"_

O-O-O

Alpha slammed on the gas and steered his car right toward the stunned spies, who dove out of the way and watched as the car barreled past them and made a sharp U-turn.

"What do we do?" Megan exclaimed, seeing Alpha's car spin around and come at them again. "That thing's too big and fast to stop!"

Lee didn't even have time to think of a plan before having to dive to the ground again, the car barely missing him and sideswiping Tony to the ground.

"Ow!" Tony shouted, falling to the pavement and waving off the others as they came to check on him. "I'm fine but this has still been a really bad day!"

"Time to make pancakes out of you spies!" Alpha declared, taking aim with the car and coming around a third time. "This'll be the end of you!"

The car took aim at the fallen Tony and came at him as quickly as it could accelerate. Tony let out a gasp, watching as the car's front bumper rapidly closed the distance.

"_I'm not gonna be able to get up!" _thought Tony, blinking his eyes shut as the car rushed toward him.

"Tony, duck!" shouted Marc suddenly, streaking toward the car with a handful of Static Burrs in his hands. _"I hope this works!"_

Marc threw the burrs, aiming as close to the radiator as he could. Several of them slid through the grates and into the car's internal systems, prompting an immediate electrical reaction that shorted out the car and forced it to a stop just inches from Tony's body. Alpha let out a quizzical 'huh?', trying to hotwire the car again only to receive a shock for his trouble.

"OW! No way!" said Alpha, who looked up to see the four spies advancing on him. "Grrr…."

He quickly leaped out of the car and attempted to flee, only for Megan to leap down in front of him, blocking his path and pointing her instant freeze spray right at his face.

"You're not going anywhere!" Megan shouted. Alpha turned to see Lee behind him, and in the other two directions were Marc and Tony. Alpha was trapped, and quickly took a defensive stance, ready to pummel any of the spies who got close.

"I can still take you on!" Alpha shouted, looking back and forth between his enemies. The four closed in, though they were all hesitant, knowing that the dangerous twin could have anything up his sleeve.

"_Even without his brother he's still good enough to thrash us all if we're not careful…" _thought Lee. _"I can't believe Tara went after the other one alone!"_

The Clarks continued to form a perimeter around Alpha, ready to strike at the first sign of movement.

"_I think I've bought my brother enough time," _said Alpha, looking back and forth at the spies to see which one was the most nervous. _"Interesting… the one in red is shaking like a leaf! He's usually so confident, I wonder what's on his mind…?"_

While Alpha was sizing up Lee, Megan's free hand was beginning to move down to her dart gun. She grabbed it and began to lift it up when Alpha suddenly seemed to disappear.

"Huh?" gasped Megan, turning to see that Alpha had suddenly appeared behind Lee and was holding him in a vicious grapple lock, his arms up under Lee's arms and around his shoulders.

"Aaaah!" Lee cried out, wondering how Alpha had been able to move so quickly. "Get off me you big creepy jerk!"

Alpha just laughed, tightening his grip on Lee's body and holding him like a human shield as Megan, Marc, and Tony all pointed their dart guns at him.

"Whatever you're going to fire at me, you'd better reconsider, you might hit your brother instead!"

"Guys, what do we do?" Tony shouted nervously, looking back and forth between Marc and Megan. "Lee's in trouble!"

"But these guns don't fire lethal projectiles, if Lee gets hit and trapped we can just free him later!" said Marc, steadying his arm. "Sorry, big bro…"

"Actually…" said Lee, suddenly pressing his foot down hard on Alpha's ankle. The blow stunned him, and gave Lee enough leverage to flip the twin hard over him, smashing him down on the pavement. "Now you can fire!"

As Alpha lay stunned on the ground, Megan, Marc, and Tony all fired their guns at once on the 'encasement' setting, triggering three orange rubber cocoons to affix themselves to Alpha, completely covering his body and trapping him on the ground in a thick rubber sack.

"Gotcha!" shouted Tony, pumping his fists. "I don't think even HE can get out of that!"

"Yeah, but what about Tara?" asked Tony, looking toward the building into which Tara had pursued Omega. "She might still be in trouble!"

"Right!" said Lee, turning toward the building with the others. "Let's go in and find-"

"Looking for someone, spies?" came a voice from the roof of the building. When the four spies looked up, they could see Omega, holding the tightly wrapped and thrashing Tara in front of him.

"Nnnnngh! LET ME OUT!" Tara screamed, her body still flailing wildly. The four spies below gasped at the sight of their fellow spy in captivity.

"Let her go, Omega!" shouted Lee, pointing at the cocoon containing Alpha. "We already trapped your brother, there's nowhere to run!"

"There's plenty of places to run if you know where to look!" said Omega, laughing at his own joke. "And besides, I don't think you have my brother at all… look!"

Omega pointed down at the cocoon, which was starting to break and buckle under the strain of Alpha's struggling.

"Quick, the freeze spray!" said Lee, taking out his can and pointing it at the cocoon. Megan, Marc, and Tony did the same.

"If we reinforce it with ice, we can keep him trapped inside!" Marc added, putting his finger on the trigger of the can.

Suddenly, the cocoon ripped open, and Alpha lunged out, striking Lee with a punch and knocking the freeze spray from his hand. Before the others could react, Alpha had sprayed them all, turning the Clarks into stunned, frozen spycicles and leaving Alpha totally unharmed.

"Oh, that was lots of fun!" Alpha shouted with a laugh, watching the four spies as they blinked inside their frozen encasements. The twin ran toward the building where his brother was standing, quickly scaling the fire escape and flipping up onto the roof. As Alpha was making his ascent, Tara stopped her struggles and briefly looked down at the frozen spies, focusing her gaze particularly on Lee.

"_They can't get out, they're totally helpless!" _thought Tara, her eyes locked right onto Lee's, which were wide with fear and worry. _"He looks so scared… he can't be scared for ME, can he be…? Or is he worried he's gonna freeze in there?"_

Tara could feel a chill go down her own spine as the reality of the situation began to set in. She felt a wave of concern for Lee and his siblings, worrying that their ice encasements could freeze them to death. She tried to blink the thoughts out of her mind, focusing only on escape and revenge as Alpha walked over to her and her captor.

"Well, how are we going to make our escape?" Omega pondered, smiling. "As you can see, I'm just about as tied up as she is!"

"Keep your grip on that girl nice and tight," said Alpha, looking down at Tara's jet boots. "And I think I'll do the same!"

Alpha wrapped one arm around Tara's encased body and used the other to press a button on Tara's boots, activating her jets. Tara let out a gasp as she was suddenly lifted into the air, Alpha's button presses overriding the boots' navigation and giving him total control over where the three of them were going.

"See you idiot spies later! And thanks for the present!" shouted Alpha, laughing down at the still-frozen spies. Lee could hear Tara give off one last loud 'LET ME GO!' as the three of them flew off.

"_Tara…!" _thought Lee, struggling to move his body in its icy encasement. _"I know she got herself into this mess but I still have to save her, and my brothers and sister too! Oh man… it's so… cold!"_

The Clarks' bodies were totally encased, none of them able to do anything other than squirm a tiny bit inside the ice.

"_This is even worse than the time Snowy Falcon tried to freeze me and Marc and Tony to death!" _thought Megan, shivering inside her icy encasement. _"At least then we could move…! And Lee's frozen too, there's no chance we'll get out of this one!"_

Marc and Tony looked over at Megan, seeing the worry and fear in her eyes. Marc wanted to give her some encouraging words, but the ice had frozen his lips tightly shut and he was unable to communicate anything to her, though it didn't stop him from trying. He worked his lips as much as he could under the ice, looking at Megan the whole time while trying to tell her not to give up. Megan watched him and blinked, wondering what Marc could possibly be trying to do.

"_Is he trying to tell me something? Or… wait a minute, I know! Warm air from our breath might melt the ice, he's trying to get his mouth open so he can breathe out some warm air! Maybe I can do it!"_

Megan also began working her lips against the freezing ice, and with a bit of determination, was able to get her mouth the tiniest bit open, exhaling several small breaths that melted the rest of the ice from her lips. She continued exhaling more and more, taking a breath when she needed to as the ice started to melt off of her face. With a good portion of her face free, Megan was able to struggle against the ice with her entire head, soon knocking off all the ice and melting the rest away, freeing her head entirely. She then began exhaling rapidly onto her shoulders, which in turn freed up her arms to struggle.

"Don't worry, you guys, I'll get this ice off all of us soon!" Megan said. The others were unable to smile, but they blinked their encouragement.

"_Guess that really did the trick!" _Marc thought. _"I wonder how she understood me with my mouth all frozen up though?"_

After a few more minutes, Megan had cleared all of the ice off her body. She quickly ran over and freed Marc by pulling and punching the ice off with her hands. The two of them then freed Lee and Tony, leaving large chunks of ice and watery puddles around them as they continued to shiver.

"Great thinking, Megan!" said Lee, patting his sister on the shoulder.

"Well, it was Marc who came up with the idea to try and breathe off all the ice," Megan replied, looking over at him.

"Wow, nice!" Tony gave Marc a thumbs up, while Marc could only blush, hiding the real truth away and allowing himself to have a quick moment of pride.

The spies' relief that they were free, however, gave way to the reality of the situation. Tara was still in Alpha and Omega's captivity, and they had absolutely no idea how to find her. Lee was clearly the most distraught by the situation, bowing his head and trying to think of a way to save his kidnapped companion.

"Lee, are you okay?" asked Megan, concern in her voice. "We're all really worried about Tara, but we'll save her, you know we will…"

"Yeah, we always save our friends and we always save the day!" said Marc, pumping his fists.

"Besides, I thought you'd be mad at Tara for going off on her own like that," Tony said quietly. "Not to say we shouldn't save her, but it is kinda her fault that she got captured."

"Tony!" Megan snapped, glaring over at him.

"Tony's right, though… Tara got herself caught, she went off on her own and got captured because of it. But…" Lee stopped himself, thinking of everything that had happened over his entire career as a spy. He remembered his early missions, all the mistakes he'd made, all the times he'd been proud or reckless or brash. Never to the same extent as Tara, but still potentially fatal to himself and the team. "But that doesn't make her any less of a spy. Yeah, she might be reckless, and we have to get her to understand that. But… she's really brave too, and really talented. I guess that's what Jerry saw in her when he recruited her for WOOHP."

"Well, that or the spy gene," said Marc with a knowing smile.

"Anyway," Lee continued, "it's not like Tara's the only WOOHP agent who's ever screwed up and gotten caught. You guys remember when I got captured by Mel?"

"Yeah, you threw a big fit about not wanting a babysitter and ran off like a-" Tony started before Megan cut him off by lightly elbowing him. "Ow! What? I was just helping Lee prove his point."

"I felt really bad because I screwed up and almost got you guys blown up too. I was really scared, not just for me but for all the other captives and of course you guys… well, I knew I made a mistake and I learned from it. We have to give Tara the chance to learn from hers too."

"Wow…" said Megan, smiling proudly. "You're the last person I'd have expected to be wanting to give Tara another chance."

"Yeah, well… you know," said Lee, looking away slightly and blushing. _"Tara might be stubborn and really cocky, but she's also kinda cute… wait, why am I thinking that?"_

Megan noticed Lee's blush and started to say something else, only for the spies' communicators to ring.

"Spies, I need you to return to WOOHP headquarters immediately!" said Jerry. "It's about Agent Prefontaine, she's-"

"She's been kidnapped, we know," said Lee. "Got any leads?"

"We got something else," said Jerry. "I'm WOOHPing you now, it's of the utmost importance that you see this immediately!" 

The spies were quickly sucked back to WOOHP, landing on the couch just in time to see Alpha and Omega's faces appear on the video screen.

"If you're watching this, you're probably wondering what we did with that new girl of yours!" Alpha said with a sneer.

"Oh yes, you must be tingling with anticipation!" Omega added.

"Where is she?" shouted Lee, rising up from the couch and clenching his fist. The twins stepped aside, revealing that they had Tara hanging high from the ceiling by two long lengths of chain. The lengths of chain were connected to more chains that were wrapped tightly around Tara's upper body, criss-crossing her chest and keeping her crossed and chained wrists pinned to the small of her back, with more chains anchored around her waist, keeping her arms completely locked down. Tara's ankles were shackled tightly together, though she was still able to swing furiously back and forth at Alpha and Omega, who were safely on the ground below.

"I'm gonna thrash both of you jerks when I get free! You hear me?" Tara shrieked, struggling wildly against her bonds while letting out a series of angry screams.

"She's quite safe…" Alpha sneered reassuringly.

"For now," added Omega. "If you want to visit, come to the rocket fuel facility just outside of Southdale. We'll meet you there… it'll be a blast!"

The twins laughed maniacally as the screen shut off.

"The abandoned KEPCON facility?" Marc noted, looking extremely nervous. "That place is said to have a kiloton's worth of high explosives stored inside!"

"Right," said Jerry, "if that fuel were to be made into a bomb and detonated, it could destroy all of Southdale."

"Or totally vaporize us…" Megan said quietly. "It's gotta be a trap!"

"I don't care, we're going in to save Tara and put an end to those creepy twins once and for all!" Lee said, determination in his voice. "Come on, spies, let's get out there and knock some heads together!"

"You got it, Lee!" Tony said eagerly, hopping to his feet. "It's go time!"

"Guess we don't have a choice," said Megan, following Lee and Tony out the door. "Tara's counting on us!"

"Yeah… and we could be counting down to the biggest explosion in the history of the town…" Marc said, the last of the four spies out of the room.

"Be careful, spies!" Jerry warned. "You know how dangerous a situation this is!"

The spies headed up to the roof and fired up their jet boots, racing across the sky in the direction of KEPCON. Alpha and Omega surely had a masterful trap planted for them, and the spies could only hope they'd be good enough to overcome it and rescue Tara from certain death.

O-O-O

_To be continued…_


	3. High Stakes Competition

The KEPCON facility was a massive, multistory factory structure that had been abandoned for several years. Signs of neglect could be seen all around the building, with dozens of broken windows and unkempt grass growing up all around the premises. The only part of the building that was still being maintained was the basement area, where the rocket fuel was being kept until it could be moved to a more secure location. The twins had broken the lock easily and had moved the fuel out of the large, dark room where it was being kept. This was the room where Tara was being kept, dangling from chains nearly thirty feet above the floor.

The end of the twins' video transmission didn't cause Tara to cease her struggles. She tugged and pulled at her bonds, her lean muscles flexing fiercely against the chains wrapped around them. Alpha and Omega watched her with fascination, laughing at her every angry glare or threatening word.

"You two think this is funny?" shrieked Tara, kicking out at the air with her bound feet. "The second I get free, you two are toast!"

"Oh, you might seem angry and tough but deep down you're terrified, aren't you?" Alpha asked her tauntingly.

"Oh yes, very very terrified!" added Omega.

"What?" Tara shouted. "No way, I'm gonna pummel you two! There's no way I'll let you hurt Lee or any of the other spies!"

Alpha turned a nearby crank, causing the chain suspending Tara in the air to begin lowering down. The girl was slowly lowered to the floor, still kicking and struggling as she came down to eye level with the twins.

"Want to make good on that threat?" Alpha asked, pointing at his cheek. "Come on, kick me right in the face!"

"AAAAGH!" Tara cried out, swinging herself forward as hard as she could. Her legs flew at Alpha's face, only for him to dodge to the side as Tara swung back. "You little coward, stand still!"

"Try hitting me, hmm?" Omega said, turning toward her. "Come on, I'll give you a clean shot!"

Tara let out another scream and swung herself at Omega, who dodged just as quickly as his brother had done. Tara gave a cry of frustration, thrashing and kicking several times at both twins, who dodged the kicks and laughed at Tara again.

"Quit toying around! You punks! You JERKS!" Tara's eyes were beginning to tear up as her frustration exploded to the surface. She kicked wildly, blinded by rage and missing both twins completely. "You won't hurt the Clarks, I'm gonna get out of here and make you sorry!"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll see them again! Right before we smash them to bits!" said Alpha, taking a roll of tape out of his pocket. Tara's eyes widened a bit as she learned of the twins' plans, and she resumed her struggles, her wrists tugging so strongly at the chains that they were beginning to bruise. "Now, are you going to quit being so rude?"

Tara responded by spitting right in Alpha's eye, causing him to let out an angry, disgusted growl.

"I won the Southdale Spitting Competition two years in a row," said Tara proudly. "A gross competition to win, but it's still a competition."

"Let's see you spit at us after this!" Alpha replied, slapping a piece of beige-colored tape over Tara's mouth. Tara let out an angry growl and attempted to work her lips free of the tape, but she had no luck. "Ahahahaha!"

"Try to call us jerks now, little girl!"

"Mmnmm mmmll gmmmmph! _I'm not a little girl!" _Tara angrily replied, screaming into her gag. "Lmmt mmm gmmm!"

Alpha and Omega simply raised Tara back up to the ceiling with the crank. The two then laughed as they exited the room, leaving Tara alone to struggle.

"Cmm bmck hrr!" screamed Tara, kicking her legs in the air and causing the chain suspending her to swing wildly. _"I can't let Lee and the others walk into a trap… and I really can't let them see me like this! I'm Tara Prefontaine, this doesn't happen to me! I've never felt so helpless in my life…"_

The girl bowed her head, but only for a moment. She wasn't about to give up, even as the skin on her wrists began to tear and sweat began coming down her face.

"_These chains can't hold me!"_

O-O-O

The spies could see the KEPCON facility below as they approached, and landed near the entrance, looking for any signs of trouble or a trap. The twins were nowhere to be found, but the spies certainly knew they had been expected and could expect to be in serious danger soon.

"So where are the twins… and where's Tara?" asked Megan.

"I'm sure they're around here somewhere… but I'm going to look for Tara on my own. The rest of you guys need to track down the twins and try not to get captured or… well…"

"Lee, you want us to split up?" Marc said curiously, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that dangerous considering what's at stake? I mean, splitting up is exactly what they want us to do, they'd love a chance to get you by yourself!" 

"I know, but… if there's a trap, and it gets sprung, I don't want all of us to get caught. If it's just me caught, you guys can save me, if you guys get caught, I can save you," said Lee. "Plus, the twins are probably expecting us to stay together. Splitting up will confuse them and give us the element of surprise."

"Wow, Lee, that's a pretty smart plan for you!" said Tony, giving his brother a thumbs up. "Are you sure you're not just trying to impress Tara by saving her on your own?"

"…what?" Lee stammered, suddenly waving his hands. "Huh? I mean… no way! That's not why I…!"

"Everyone saw you blushing," said Megan with a smirk.

"Blushing when? I wasn't…"

"It's okay, Lee, we're ready to go by your plan," Megan interrupted, giving her brother a reprieve as he began to blush again. "Just… be careful, okay? It's really dangerous to go in alone…"

"Believe me," sighed Lee. "I know."

The spies made their way into the building and emerged into the lobby, a large room which branched off in all directions.

"All right," said Lee, pointing at a sign near the path heading left. "I think I'll head down to the basement… you guys stay up here and listen up for the twins."

"Got it," said Megan. She gestured for Marc and Tony to follow her as the three of them raced down the hallway and kept their ears peeled for Alpha and Omega.

"I just thought of something," Marc said, turning to Megan as the spies ran down the long, dark corridor. "What if Alpha and Omega are still with Tara? Like… where she's hanging up, they're watching for someone to come into the room so they can jump them?"

"If that's the case, and Lee finds Tara, he's in big trouble!" Tony said with a worried tone. "And we'll be stuck on the other side of the factory!"

Megan nodded, her own face showing as much worry as her brothers'. She didn't like Lee's plan to split up the group either, but if it would keep the entire team from being ambushed, it was worth it to divide their assets. Hopefully, she thought, Lee would be able to signal them on his communicator if he was in trouble.

"_And vice versa…" _Megan looked down at her own communicator. "At the first sign of trouble, we call Lee, got it?"

Marc and Tony nodded to each other. The three spies entered a large, open room, lit by flickering lights from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a large, metallic cylinder standing upright. It was nearly fifteen feet tall and about four feet wide.

"Is that a support pillar?" asked Marc, looking the strange object up and down. "That's weird, there's fifteen whole feet of space between the top of the object and the ceiling…"

As the three spies approached the object, they noticed that it was beginning to move ever so slightly forward.

"That thing is…." Tony began, reaching out with his hand and pointing at the object as it leaned over, falling down toward the spies. "That thing's coming down!"

The spies leaped back as the cylinder hit the floor with a mighty clang. In the place where the object was now stood Omega, his arms across his chest.

"Omega!" Megan shouted, pointing at the villainous twin. "That's a pretty lame trap, you know!"

"Oh, it wasn't a trap!" said Omega, showing the large apparatus behind him. It appeared to be another metallic object with several large fins protruding from the back. "It's the casing for our multi-stage rocket that we're planning to launch right at your house!"

"You're gonna blow up our house?" Tony shouted angrily. "You're crazy!"

"What's so crazy about wanting to kill all my enemy birds with one stone? Or in this case, one big boom!" Omega launched into a series of loud laughs before taking a fighting stance.

"Guys, if Omega's here, then that must mean…" Marc began, looking over at Megan.

"Right…! Alpha is with Tara! And soon with Lee!" Megan said with a gasp.

O-O-O

Lee ran through the facility as quickly as he could, following the signs posted that directed him toward the basement. As he was running, he continued to think about Tara and what might be happening to her… he hoped Alpha and Omega hadn't placed her in some kind of death trap or something even worse.

"_Even chained up like she is, I wouldn't put it past her to try and provoke them!" _thought Lee nervously. _"Tara, just try to stay still and be quiet until I come rescue you!"_

The signs led Lee to a large, double metal door at the end of a long hallway. The door was sealed up tight, secured by a coded keypad that controlled the door's locking mechanism. Lee stared at the keypad for a few moments, wondering what his next course of action should be. He then reached down to his belt and pulled a small ring from one of the pockets.

"The Superspy Ultimate Decoder Ring!" said Lee with a smile, holding the ring up to the keypad. It instantly deciphered the code and triggered the door to unlock, causing it to slowly open before Lee's eyes. "All right! Now where's Tara…?"

Lee began walking the basement floor, passing several side chambers as he made his way to the large, metallic gate at the end. He pressed a button near the gate, causing it to slide open and reveal the large rocket fuel storage room… and Tara.

"Mmmph…!" Tara let out a grunt and a gasp as she saw Lee enter.

"Tara! Don't worry, I'll have you out of those chains really fast!"

Tara had seen the twins planting traps in the room before they left. Her eyes widened and she shook her head, trying to verbalize a warning.

"Nmmph! Mmmph! Mmm…!"

"Tara, are the twins still in here?" asked Lee, looking back and forth. _"I'd better be careful, they probably saw the gate open up and now they're looking to pounce!"_

Lee carefully walked into the room, keeping up his guard.

"MMMPH! NMMMPH!" Tara shook her head even faster. _"Lee, there's a-"_

Lee's ankle suddenly snagged on a tripwire. He looked down.

"Oh crud…" Lee groaned, just as a large bucket of rocket fuel came crashing down on his head.

O-O-O

"You're going down, Omega! And your brother too!" shouted Tony, glaring at the villainous twin. "And Lee's gonna deal with your brother!"

"Wherever Lee is, my brother isn't," Omega replied, stepping toward the three spies. The spies immediately took defensive stances, while Megan wondered what Omega could possibly be talking about.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Megan asked.

"It means I'm right here!"

"Huh?" The three spies all turned at the voice behind them, only to have Alpha dive on them from behind, striking Megan with a kick to the face while smashing his arms across Marc and Tony's chests. The three of them tumbled to the ground, allowing Omega to lunge forward and grab Marc and Megan by their collars.

"Hah hah, nice one, brother!" Omega laughed.

"He was standing there the whole time?" Megan gasped, struggling to get out of Omega's grip. "But… how?"

"Not the whole time," said Alpha with a smirk, pinning Tony to the ground by placing a foot on his chest. "I was crouched down in the shadows while my brother was gathering up rocket components!"

"You dirty cheaters!" cried Tony, struggling under Alpha's foot while trying to punch him in the leg. "Well, you won't catch our brother!"

"Oh, we knew one or more of you might split off from the pack to find that insufferable girl," Omega said mischievously. "That's why we laid plenty of traps before we left! Your brother's probably triggering them right now!"

"_Oh no…" _thought Megan, her eyes wide with fear. _"Lee!"_

O-O-O

Lee leapt back out of the way, barely avoiding getting smashed by the barrel of fuel. It hit the ground hard, making a loud metallic noise and splashing rocket fuel all over Lee's outfit.

"Missed me!" Lee said, chuckling to himself and looking up at Tara. "Impressive?"

"_You're covered in rocket fuel, idiot!" _thought Tara, her eyes glancing over to a crossbow rigged to fire a flaming arrow near the barrel. _"Highly flammable rocket fuel!"_

Tara watched helplessly as the crossbow trap triggered, hitting the puddle of fuel near the barrel and sending a jet of flame rapidly across the long trail of rocket fuel on the floor… a trail that led right to Lee.

"…uh oh!" Lee exclaimed, attempting to flee the flames. _"…as long as I'm covered in rocket fuel, I'm making a trail everywhere! I can't outrun it!"_

Lee watched as the flames got closer and closer, while Tara could barely bring herself to observe, closing her eyes as the flames approached her classmate.

"_No… he's going to be burned alive!" _thought Tara, her struggles beginning anew. _"Those freaks are going to pay if Lee gets…!"_

Suddenly, Lee had a burst of quick thinking. He reached down to his belt and pulled out his freeze spray, pointing it at the trail of fire.

"Lucky I picked this back up after getting out of that ice!" Lee said, smiling. "I just hope those creepy twins left some in the can…"

Lee pressed the trigger and sprayed a cloud of freeze spray at the flames, the cold air instantly chilling them and smothering the fire. The force of the spray even froze the rocket fuel that was on the ground, though Lee still had some of it dripping from his outfit.

"_Guess I need to get this thing dry-cleaned at WOOHP after the mission," _thought Lee, looking up at Tara. He could see that she was still struggling, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he'd survived a close encounter with fiery death. "Hey Tara, I can get you down now!"

"Mmmmphh!" shouted Tara, continuing to struggle. _"I'm glad you're alive, Lee… but I'm not giving up on getting free!"_

Showing relief was a sign of weakness, thought Tara, and she wasn't about to let Lee know how glad she was that he was alive. Lee just shrugged and walked over to the chain crank, reaching out to grab the handle. As his hand drew close, he noticed a small, blinking dot placed on the wooden end of the crank.

"Hunh," said Lee, looking down at the crank. "They've got this one rigged with a trap too… I'd better be really, really careful…"

Lee reached out with his hand, extending two of his fingers and flicking the red dot off the handle. It flew through the air for a couple of seconds before exploding in a bright flash, sending out a hot wind that caused Tara's hair to briefly flutter, and forced Lee to raise his hand to shield his eyes from the flash.

"That could've been nasty!" Lee said to himself. He then turned the crank, quickly lowering Tara to the ground. "Finally, time to get you out of those chains."

The redhead walked over to Tara, who was _still _struggling, despite the fact that her freedom was now imminent. She glared hard at Lee as he reached to take the tape off of her mouth.

"Uh… they didn't boobytrap the tape too, did they?" Lee asked, only half-jokingly. Tara just continued to growl and glare, turning her head as Lee tried to remove her gag. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle."

Lee carefully pulled the tape from Tara's lips, causing her to wince a bit from the slight sting as it came off.

"I was just about to get free on my own, you know!" shouted Tara, continuing her struggles. Lee looked around behind Tara to see that the chains around her wrists and upper body hadn't even begun to budge. "Just let me… give me a few more minutes!"

"Tara, this isn't a game or some kind of competition!" Lee shouted in frustration. "It's a real mission with real consequences, and the longer we wait here the more danger my brothers and sister are in! I need to untie you right now!"

Tara screamed at the top of her lungs, fighting her bonds until a thin trickle of blood emerged from one of her wrists. She gritted her teeth and flexed against the chains, pushing her body toward Lee in an attempt to get him to back off.

"I can do it! Just give me more time!"

"Tara, LISTEN!" Lee grabbed Tara tightly around the waist, preventing her from struggling. She instinctively started to kick to try and push him away, but closed her eyes and stopped herself, fighting back a tear.

"Okay, I'm listening…!"

Lee breathed a heavy sigh.

"There's no shame in getting caught and put in danger… it's happened to every one of us… lots of times," said Lee.

"But not to me! I… I was humiliated, Lee! They taunted me, they… they-"

"It makes me mad too… it makes me want to fight harder, but not because I want to win, okay? I fight because I want to help people… I want to protect people everywhere from criminals, I want to protect my friends and my family, my brothers and my sister… WOOHP isn't about being better than everyone else, it's about being the best you can be and using your talents to help protect the world. Tara… please… try to think about that."

Tara looked into Lee's eyes and continued to struggle weakly. Lee tightened his grip on her, resting his hand on her chained, wounded wrists. Tara gritted her teeth and remembered the moment Jerry had first proposed to her that she join WOOHP. He was talking about seeing the world, helping people… but all Tara could think about was how awesome she'd look, how she'd be the greatest spy of all time.

"_I didn't join WOOHP to help people…" _thought Tara. _"I joined WOOHP to help myself."_

The girl bowed her head, feeling the first twinges of shame going through her. She knew she'd joined WOOHP for all the wrong reasons, and she'd nearly gotten herself and Lee killed for it.

"Lee," said Tara quietly, a bit of resistance in her voice as she swallowed her pride. "Thanks for saving me."

"It's what we do, you know," said Lee, releasing his hold on Tara slightly. "We look out for each other, protect each other, help each other when we're in trouble…"

Tara couldn't help but smile just a bit. Lee finally unwrapped his arms from around Tara's body, and she didn't try to struggle against her chains. Instead, she looked up at Lee and gave him a smile.

"I love helping my teammates out of jams," said Lee. "And not just because they're my siblings, or because you're so…" Lee blushed, tripping over his words. Tara's smile grew a bit more.

"Didn't you say your siblings were in trouble?" Tara reminded him. "Stop flirting with me and get me out of these stupid chains!"

"I wasn't flirting!" Lee replied indignantly, blushing even more.

"Riiiight…" said Tara, rolling her eyes as Lee finally began loosening her bonds. "I can't wait to start pounding those twins into dust! …with your help."

"Yeah, it'll take both of us working together to stop them," Lee said, freeing Tara from the chains and leaving her to undo the bonds around her ankles. "I just hope Megan and the others were able to hold their own long enough for me to get you out of here…"

O-O-O

Back in the large room on the other side of the factory, Megan, Marc, and Tony had been bound tightly with rope around the large, metallic cylinder, which was now propped up from the ground by a rig as the twins were quickly fashioning it into their rocket-propelled missile. The rope was wrapped tightly around the spies' waists, pinning them to their sides and making it quite difficult for them to do much struggling.

"I can't believe they beat us so quickly!" Tony shouted, straining and grunting against the ropes. "They totally got the jump on us, no fair!"

"Fair or not, we'd better get loose quickly!" Marc said, watching as Omega stepped away from the missile. "If I read their schematic correctly, they just finished attaching the final component!"

"That's right, Marc Clark!" Alpha said, standing at a control panel for the missile and programming the coordinates. On the control panel's screen, Megan could see the image of their family's house suddenly pop up with a targeting reticule over it.

"Oh no…. they're getting ready to fire!" Megan cried fearfully, intensifying her struggles. _"Come on, Lee…! I know you and Tara can get back here in time! …as long as those traps the twins mentioned didn't blow you up first!"_

The three siblings struggled and shared worried expressions as a timer popped up on the control console, reading '00:01:00' in big red letters. The timer began ticking down, counting out the last sixty seconds before the launch.

"Oh, how dramatic!" Omega said gleefully, rubbing his hands together. "Brother, this launch will be a great success!"

"Yes, a toast to our victory!" concurred Alpha, slapping his twin brother a high five.

"Oh man!" Tony shouted, looking over at the timer as it ticked down past forty. "You two clowns won't get away with this, you know! We'll find a way out, or our big brother Lee will stop you, or…!"

"Tell me, why didn't we gag them like we gagged that girl?" Omega asked his brother, picking up the roll of beige tape they'd left out near the control console.

"Wouldn't it be delightful for those two OOPSIE fools to hear their children's screams as the missile approaches?" asked Alpha, mentioning the spies' parents while staying his brother's hand. "Besides, we'll only have to put up with their whining for… only thirty more seconds!"

"Ah, you have a point!" Omega said, turning back to the captive spies. "Yes, beg for mercy if you wish, you have but twenty seconds before launch!"

The three looked at the timer and continued struggling, knowing their time was just about up.

"_15… 14… 13… come on, Lee, come on!" _thought Megan. _"Tara, I once said you were a fantastic girl… well here's your chance to prove it!"_

The timer counted down past ten.

"Hey you, catch this!"

Alpha and Omega turned, only to see Lee throwing a wrench right at Alpha's face. The wrench slammed into the twin's forehead, causing him to let out a scream of pain and fall backwards to the ground, groaning and clutching his temple.

"You'll pay for that!" Omega shouted, running at Lee and Tara as they entered the room. Lee turned to Tara quickly.

"You handle Omega while I shut down that countdown, got it?"

"Got it!" said Tara, readying her fists to keep Omega busy.

"Oh no you don't!" Omega shouted, stretching one of his arms outward toward Lee. Tara responded by diving for Omega's legs, tackling him fiercely to the ground and preventing him from grabbing Lee before he could reach the control console. "You little brat, you won't escape us again!"

"I'm no brat!" Tara replied, using her fierce strength to try and wrestle with Omega on the ground. Lee reached the control panel just as it ticked down past four.

"Lee, hurry!" Megan shrieked, watching the control panel as the timer went down to three.

"Oh man, I don't know which button to push!" Lee cried frantically. He curled his right hand into a fist. "Here goes nothing!"

With as much force as he could, Lee slammed his fist down on the control panel, sending shards of metal, wires, and buttons everywhere. The timer terminated at '2', sparing Lee's siblings and cancelling the launch.

"When in doubt, just punch it!" said Lee, shaking his hand to relieve some of the pain.

"Something we both agree on!" Tara replied with a smile, struggling as Omega pinned her to the ground. "Grrr!"

"He might've stopped the rocket for now, but after we deal with you we can restart the launch any time we want!" Omega grunted, pushing down as Tara tried forcing him up. "I don't think so… you're much too weak to handle me!"

"Never… call… me… WEAK!" Tara shouted, gritting her teeth and redoubling her efforts. Lee ran over to the missile and began untying the others, just as Alpha was starting to pick himself up from the ground.

"Better hurry with those ropes, the other creepy twin is getting up!" Tony shouted.

"Right…!" said Lee, untying the last knot and releasing his siblings. "Got it!"

Tara drove her knee up into Omega's gut, stunning him and enabling her to push his body off of hers. She stood up and struck a victorious pose, only to have Alpha slam hard into her side, sending her sprawling to the ground.

"Tara!" Megan cried, watching as her friend lay seemingly lifeless nearby. Alpha began to laugh, proud of the vicious hit he'd delivered to the unconscious girl.

"It's lights out for her!" Alpha said, turning to the spies.

"And now, lights out for you!" Omega shouted. The twins ran at the four children, leaping up into the air to deliver a powerful drop kick to Lee and Megan's chests. The two were ready, crouching down and catching the twins before the kicks could make impact.

"Nobody knocks out a fellow WOOHP agent!" said Lee, turning to Megan and smiling.

"That's right, you two are in big trouble now!" Megan added. Lee and Megan swung the twins into one another, causing their heads and bodies to collide with tremendous force. They let out grunts of pain, then two more grunts when they were unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

"All right, yeah!" shouted Tony victoriously. "Now let's wrap this one up!"

"Right," Lee nodded, turning to the spot where Tara had fallen. He could see her on the ground, rubbing her side slightly in pain. _"Whew, she's woken up…"_

"Unnnh… guess I celebrated a bit too soon," groaned Tara, looking over at Lee. "Did we win?"

Lee smiled, both at the fact that Tara was okay, and at the fact that she'd acknowledged her mistake.

"Not yet, but soon we-"

Lee's words were cut off by the twins' creepy laughter. The two of them smiled unsettlingly at the spies, then stood up, their hands joined.

"Did you really think that would be the end of us?" hissed Alpha.

"We've got one more trick up our sleeves!" Omega added, punctuating his words with a laugh.

"Oh crud, if this is what I think it is, then…" Tony began.

"We gotta stop them!" shouted Marc. Lee and Megan lunged toward the twins, but were soon blinded by a flash of light as Alpha and Omega merged into a combined being that towered over the five spies. "No…!"

The combined form of Alpha and Omega began to laugh, clenching its fists, which crackled with lightning.

"They've done this before?" Tara asked, rubbing her head.

"Yeah, but we stopped them…" Lee told her.

"Then what's the big deal?" Tara replied, the smile returning to her face. "All I see is one big creepy clown instead of two little shrimpy ones. They're no match for us!"

"Oh no…" Marc groaned. "Don't tell me she still hasn't learned anything."

"Don't confuse arrogance for confidence, Marc," replied Megan. She looked over at Tara, who was striking another fighting pose. "All right, maybe it's a little bit of both… but she's right, we can totally kick Alpha and Omega's butts!"

"I don't think so!" shouted the twins. The combined figure extended its arms at Marc and Tony, hoping to ensnare them in its grasp. The two swiftly dodged, not wanting to be caught by the same trick again. The twins' arms then went for Lee and Tara. Lee barely left out of the way, while Tara was forced to contort her body downward to avoid being caught.

"I usually love limbo contests but this is really giving my calves a nasty workout!" shouted Tara, wincing slightly as her legs bent all the way back to accommodate her position. "Even I'm not sure if I can wrestle something this big!"

"Hmm…" mused Lee, rubbing his chin. _"Maybe if we take this one part at a time…"_

The giant villain kicked down at Megan, striking her in the chest and knocking her onto her back. She quickly pulled out her freeze spray and iced its leg to the ground before it could pull it back up… but the twins pulled their leg up anyway, easily breaking free of the ice and raising up for another stomp.

"Their strength is incredible in this form!" said Marc, running across the room to avoid being stomped himself. _"Maybe if I can re-aim the rocket at the twins, I can blow them to pieces! I know we can't ever kill anyone, but if it's to protect the lives of my brothers and sister, I don't have a choice!"_

Marc ran to the control panel and inspected the wiring, wondering what he might be able to do to fix it. Lee looked over at him and quickly shook his head.

"Marc, we don't have time for that! I have a better idea!"

"You better come up with it soon!" shouted Tony. He ran between the twins' legs, only to see an outstretched hand come barreling toward him. "Aaaaah!"

Tara watched as the twins snatched Tony off of the ground and pulled his thrashing form high into the air.

"I wonder how high we can throw you, hmmm?" came the twin's voiced in unison from the combined creature's mouth. "Right through the ceiling, perhaps?"

"Lemme go you psycho! …psychos…! Whatever you are!" Tony pounded his fists down on the twins' arm, but their grip was unrelenting, and Tony soon found himself in position to be flung up into the air. "…help!"

"Marc, Megan, both of you grab a leg and use your cables to tie them together!" said Lee, who then turned to Tara. "We're going to take this big guy from behind!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Tara said enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

Marc and Megan looked over at each other uncomfortably, hoping they could grab onto the twins' legs tightly enough to secure the cables between them.

"It's now or never, Marc, Tony needs us!" 

"Right, Megan, I just… I don't want to get stomped flat, you know?"

"Come on!" Megan shouted, running over to the twins' right leg and grabbing on tight. The twins, sensing Megan's attempt to corral their leg, began raising it up off the ground and stomping down hard, effortlessly carrying Megan along for the ride. "Aaaaaaaahhh!"

"Nnnnghhh!" Marc wrapped his arms around the left leg and placed his hand down on his belt, preparing to deploy the cables. The twins continued to stomp repeatedly, lifting both spies up off the air and sending shockwaves through them with every stomp. _"I'm getting nauseous!"_

"Enough of this!" the twins shouted, looking down at Tony. "Time to send you flying!"

Tony grabbed onto the arm holding him for dear life, clinging to it to keep from being thrown. After several attempts, the twins let out a cry of frustration. The fused creature balled up its other hand into a fist and prepared to strike.

"_That's not gonna feel good…!" _Tony thought, blinking his eyes tightly closed.

Suddenly, the fused creature found itself with two spies hanging on its back. Lee and Tara were hanging off the twins' shoulders, and before the creature could swing its fist at Tony, the two reached around and poked the twins right in the eyes. The twins let out a howl of pain, dropping Tony to the ground and swinging their fist to the side, causing the creature to punch itself hard in its other wrist, prompting another loud scream of pain. Marc and Megan, who had already secured the twins' legs together with cables, tugged hard on them, which caused the eight-foot-tall figure to land hard on the ground, still wincing in pain from the self-inflicted blow and the poke to its eyes.

"You're gonna be sorry you did that…!" shouted the creature as Lee, Tara, Marc, Megan, and Tony gathered around it.

"No, you'll be sorry!" replied Lee. Tara smirked at him. "…oh come on, I didn't have time to think of a good comeback! Spies, attack pattern Z!"

"What's that?" asked Tara, unfamiliar with the Clarks' signals.

"Pound the crud out of them!" Lee told her.

"Oh cool, that's what I was gonna go with anyway," said Tara.

Before the twins could gain their bearings, the five spies pummeled them with a flurry of powerful punches, knocking the large creature senseless. The speed at which the punches came left the twins unable to put up a resistance, and the cables around their legs kept them from standing. Soon, the rain of blows was just too much for Alpha and Omega to handle, and they could no longer sustain their combined form. The creature split, returning the twins to normal in an unconscious state.

"Hey, we did it!" Megan said happily, raising her fist victoriously. "Yeah!" 

"Nice work, guys!" said Lee, complimenting the other spies… including Tara. "You did great on your first mission…"

"Yeah, even if you did get captured," said Tony with a laugh. Tara leaned in toward him and smiled menacingly.

"Watch it, your brother gave me permission to give you a noogie any time you got out of line," said Tara, slowly extending her hand toward Tony.

"What?" shouted Tony, glaring at Lee. "Is that true?"

Lee began laughing nervously, prompting Megan and Marc to glare.

"…I might've said it as a joke, maybe…" Lee chuckled, placing his hand behind his head. "And besides, Tara would never actually hurt you."

"Maybe tickle you a little," Tara said, continuing to relish the moment. "Megan told me all your ticklish spots. Like the one right below your ribs on the left side."

"Aw, come on!" Tony shouted, looking back and forth between Megan and Lee. "Why are you guys always doing this to me, huh?"

As Tony sweated it out, the other spies shared a friendly laugh, glad that they could joke around now that Alpha and Omega were finally beaten. As the laughter continued, the spies' communicators switched on and they could see Jerry on their screens.

"Just checking in with you, spies, have Alpha and Omega been defeated? And is our newest agent doing all right?"

"See for yourself," said Tara, hoisting the unconscious bodies of Alpha and Omega over her shoulders. "I whipped their butts all by myself, and saved the others at the same-"

Lee and Megan quickly grabbed Tara, holding her arms and covering up her mouth, prompting her to drop the unconscious villains to the floor. Tara struggled against them, not giving her full effort but still clearly showing her displeasure at their holding her.

"As you can see, Tara's doing just fine!" Megan said happily.

"And we all beat Alpha and Omega, working as a team!" continued Lee, as Tara managed to extricate her mouth from the spies' grasp.

"Aw come on, you guys, can't you take a joke? I was just messing with- mph!" Tara managed to get out before Lee covered up her mouth again. "Mmmm!"

"I see you've still got enough energy left for horseplay, but I would like you to come back to WOOHP as soon as possible for a quick debriefing. We'll be sending our containment team over to pick up the twins and they'll take you back to WOOHP with them. Excellent work, spies!"

Jerry's face disappeared from the communicators, and Lee and Megan released Tara, who shot them both a quick glare before crossing her arms back over her chest.

"You guys know it was just a joke, right?" Tara asked, looking over at Lee. "Just wanted to see Jerry's face when I told him I'd taken both those jerks down."

Lee smiled, indicating that he realized Tara was just playing around.

"Yeah yeah… I think you've learned your lesson, Tara," said Lee with a smirk. "I… I have to come clean with you, I was about to ask Jerry to have you kicked out of WOOHP just before we got called downtown. After what you said, I just… well, I thought you'd be a really bad spy and do something really reckless. I was worried about my brothers and sister and-"

"It's okay," said Tara calmly. "I know you were looking out for them. Guys, I'm… I'm sorry I was like that before. I had no idea of the danger you guys have to be in, I thought it would be a piece of cake, but it turns out I almost caused the whole town to get blown up."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being brave and competitive," said Megan, placing a hand on Tara's shoulder. She looked over at Marc and Tony, who nodded and smiled.

"Just… when we're on a dangerous mission, leave all that 'competition' stuff behind, okay?" Marc added. Tara nodded, then turned her gaze to Lee.

"I'm _still _going to be the best WOOHP agent of all time," Tara told him.

"Bring it on!" Lee said, pointing a finger at Tara. "I'm gonna be the youngest superspy EVER, and I'm going to go back out to the training course and break all your records!"

"You could try for a hundred years and not break all the records I set. Oh, and next time we go out on a mission? I'm gonna be the one saving your butt. You know that guy Mel, the one who captured you? Well, I'm gonna make it a point to kick his butt and then drag his beaten, broken body all the way to wherever you are, just to see the look on your face!"

"That's nothing! Next time Alpha and Omega break out of WOOHP jail, I'm going to go kick their butts and send them to you as a birthday present, along with a video recording of me kicking their butts! Oh, and that's only after I break all the old records of mine you broke at Southdale. While I'm at it, I think I'll learn how to build computers and plant trees just so I can win THOSE competitions too!"

"Oh, it's on, Lee!"

"It is SO on!"

Megan, Marc, and Tony watched Lee and Tara's continuing friendly argument, with Megan resting a hand on her chin and wearing a very annoyed expression.

"They could go on for hours like this," said Megan with a sigh.

"Tell me about it," groaned Tony. "…wait, you guys better not be thinking about breaking my skateboarding records!"

"I really hope the WOOHP containment team gets here soon," muttered Marc.

Lee and Tara hadn't slowed down for a second.

O-O-O

Back at WOOHP, Jerry once again commended the spies for a job well done.

"Tara, while you did stumble at the beginning, your bravery and skill is still quite impressive. Still, such a capture on your very first mission… are you sure you wish to stay with the organization?"

"Of course!" Tara said, a proud smile still etched on her face. "It'll take a lot more than being chained up by a couple of super creeps to discourage me. In fact, next time I think I'll be the one to save Lee's butt!"

"You told me that already," groaned Lee, rolling his eyes.

"Right, yes, well, as long as you can keep your ego in check I think you'll be a wonderful member of WOOHP! Welcome again to the team!"

Tara smiled and gave a slight bow of her head as a show of quiet respect.

"Thanks, Jerry…" she said, turning to Lee and whispering. "I promise… you've got nothing to worry about."

Lee smiled at her, finally glad that he felt he could trust Tara as a member of WOOHP.

"_Who knows, it might actually be fun having her along…"_

"Well, anyway," continued Jerry, "I have some news for you all. I'd like to thank you for training Tara, but I have to say that she won't be part of your group."

"Huh?" Tony said in disbelief. "But we spent all that time training her and hanging out with her!"

"Yeah, Jerry, what's up?" asked Lee, raising an eyebrow. Tara too looked surprised, and disappointed.

"But you just said-"

"Agent Prefontaine will be a member of WOOHP, just… not in your individual squad. Oh, don't worry, she'll be staying in your school, I'm not reassigning her to Australia or anything. I've decided to make Tara the first member of our new WOOHP mentoring program."

"WOOHP mentoring?" Megan asked, blinking in a somewhat bewildered way.

"Yes, I'm placing Tara under the tutelage of an established superspy in WOOHP, whom she'll be accompanying on missions and learning under. I think it'll put Tara on the fast track to superspydom! Who knows, she might become our youngest superspy ever!"

Tara smirked at Lee upon hearing this. Lee grumbled a bit under his breath.

"Tara, you'll be working with Britney on your missions from now on," said Jerry, showing Britney's face on the monitor. "You'll meet with her tomorrow and go on your first mission together."

"Sounds great!" said Tara, smiling eagerly. Marc took out his PDA and did a few quick searches.

"Britney's pretty cool, we all met her a while back and she was lots of fun," said Marc. "She even told us about all of the records she holds at her old high school. She was pretty humble about them so we really had to pry to get information out of her, check this out…"

Marc showed Tara all the records that Britney continued to hold at her school. Tara's eyes went wide.

"Those… those marks are all better than mine!" Tara exclaimed. "But how'd she…"

"Well, she IS five years older than you," said Lee with a smile. "But don't worry, it'll give you something to strive for, right? I mean, we're not even IN high school yet…"

"But still… I see a challenge, I have to beat it! I can't let these records go unbroken!" declared Tara, who immediately launched herself into a series of practice punches. "Huah! Huhhh! Hyaaaah!"

"I can see that Tara and Britney are going to get along just fine," said Megan, giggling loudly. The spies, and even Jerry, joined Megan in her laughter as Tara continued throwing punches at the air.

O-O-O

Back at Southdale the next day, Lee was leaning against his locker, letting out a long sigh as Megan, Marc, and Tony came over.

"Guess what?" Megan said excitedly. "Peter Williams agreed to go to the homecoming dance with me! He's so dreamy, and he's up for homecoming king too! If he wins, he said he'll make me his queen!"

"And I asked Sheena out just a few minutes ago and she agreed to go with me!" Mark said. "I even apologized to her for forgetting to ask before and she apologized to ME for not asking me earlier! And then she kissed me on the cheek! See where her lipstick touched my face?"

"Yeah, Marc, sparkly pink glitter is definitely not you," said Megan, giggling as she noticed the mark on her brother's cheek.

"Well I got a date with that foreign exchange girl!" said Tony, grinning from ear to ear.

"The one from France?" asked Megan. Tony replied with a nod.

"Nice!" Marc replied, giving his brother a high five. "So, Lee, how's it going?"

"Still nothing," sighed Lee, bowing his head. "And with only two days left… I guess I'm gonna have to go with Tami. It's better than nothing, right, guys?"

Lee looked over at his siblings, who were coughing uncomfortably and shifting their feet. Lee let out an even bigger sigh. Then, he saw someone coming down the hallway. It was Tara, smiling as she happily strode down the hall toward Lee and his siblings.

"Hey, Tara!" Megan greeted her as she walked past. Lee leaned up and whispered in her ear.

"How'd the mission go?" he quietly asked. "And how was Britney?"

"Mission went awesome, we kicked butt," Tara replied. "And as for Britney… I have no idea how someone _that _girly and sweet could've set so many athletic records. She has no competitive drive at all! I mean, I like her and all, but sometimes she can be kind of annoying… she actually asked me what I was wearing to homecoming. As if I'm even _going _to homecoming."

"…you're… not going to homecoming?" Marc asked curiously. 

"Why not?" Lee asked.

"It's dumb," said Tara. "It's just a bunch of sappy dancing and silly music and no competition. …and besides, I don't even have someone to go with."

"Oh?" Megan said, leaning over toward Lee, who could immediately tell what his sister was up to. Lee gulped nervously, turning back toward Tara who was now staring right at him, her eyes locked onto his.

"What?" said Tara, leaning in toward him. "You wanted to ask me something?"

Lee looked at Tara, his eyes going up and down her body and back up to her face. No doubt about it, Tara was really pretty… Lee didn't even mind the fact that she had just as much muscle mass as he did.

"_Go to the homecoming dance with Tara? Would she even want to go if I asked her?"_

Lee opened up his mouth to speak, only to hear a shrill voice coming from far down the hall.

"Hey, you!" shouted Tami, pointing at Tara as she and her entourage of girls walked over. "You're not acting my Lee to homecoming, are you?"

"Excuse me?" Tara said indignantly, turning toward Tami. "_Your _Lee?"

"Oh yes, I've had my eyes on Lee for a long time, and you're not going to ask him to homecoming before I do! Besides, he already agreed to go with me!"

"…huh?" Tara said, turning toward Lee. _"You'd REALLY go out with this bimbo?"_

"Listen, Tami…" said Lee, taking a step toward her. "I never actually said I'd go to homecoming with you… and um… actually… I was about to ask Tara."

"WHAT?" shouted Tami, not noticing the very small blush that had formed on Tara's face.

"_You were going to ask me?" _she thought, looking over at Lee and noticing just how handsome the redheaded boy was… remembering how good it felt when his arms were around her back at the KEPCON facility, and how kind he'd been to forgive her after she'd been such an arrogant jerk. _"I… guess homecoming wouldn't suck so bad if I were going with you."_

"Yeah… Tara, would you go to homecoming with me?" Lee asked.

"Oh no you don't!" Tami whined, pointing at Tara. "You… you step off of my man right now!"

Tara quickly positioned herself between Tami and Lee, staring down the blonde with a very intimidating glower. Lee placed his hand on Tara's shoulder, prompting her to turn toward him. Lee was slowly shaking his head.

"_Don't… you could break her in half if you wanted but I really don't want this getting physical," _thought Lee, trying to convey that message with a concerned look.

"Hey! You big muscley freak!" shrieked Tami. "I'm talking to you!"

Tami poked her finger into Tara's chest, prompting Tara to once again look back at Lee, giving him an expression that said 'I won't hurt her but please let me have some fun.'. Lee gave Tara a shrug and a very slight smile.

"You step off my man, or I'll- aaaaaaaaaahhhh!" Tami's words were cut off as Tara suddenly lifted her into the air. "Put me down! Put me down right now!"

Tara began bench pressing Tami in front of everyone, easily lifting the skinny girl up and down more than a dozen times, prompting horrified gasps from Tami's entourage, but laughter and cheering from everyone else as Tami shrieked and thrashed in Tara's mighty grasp. Finally, after about twenty repetitions, Tara set Tami gently back on her feet.

"Now, who's stepping off whose man?" asked Tara, leaning in once more. Tami backed off, pointing at Tara as she and her entourage quickly retreated.

"Fine!" shrieked Tami. "Keep him, you big freak! You… you… man girl!"

Tami stormed off, while Tara turned back to Lee. By now, Megan had stars in her eyes.

"That was so awesome how you bench pressed Tami!" Megan squealed, fawning over Tara like a fangirl. "Marc, did you get it on your cameraphone? I wanna put in on Youtube!"

Marc laughed nervously and put a hand on Megan's shoulder, while Tony put his hand on Megan's other shoulder. The two began to calmly guide her away.

"Let's get you something to calm you down, I think you're overstimulated for the day," said Marc, laughing a bit as he and Tony dragged their sister off. The crowd parted, leaving Tara and Lee alone in the hall.

"Tara, I'm sorry Tami talked to you like that… I know it must hurt to be called-"

"Totally used to it," said Tara, putting her hands on her hips. "Trust me, if I was afraid of being called a freak or a man girl, I never would've started working out."

"Well… I just want you to know that you're really pretty, and I think you're the toughest girl I've ever-"

"I already agreed to go to homecoming with you, don't make me change my mind," said Tara, smirking and placing a hand on Lee's shoulder. "See you Friday night."

"Right…" said Lee, smiling back at Tara and watching as she walked away down the hall. He couldn't help but blush as he leaned back against his locker. _"There's still no way I'm letting her keep all those records, though!"_

Tara continued to walk, glad that she had both a date to homecoming and a set of loyal new friends. She was fine with putting her competitive urges aside for her new endeavor, at least as she got to keep them alive and well in everything else. She walked to her next class, happier and more confident than she'd been in a long time.

"_If homecoming goes well, maybe one day I'll tell you why I started breaking all your records, Lee…"_

All of Tara's hard work was finally paying off.

O-O-O

**THE END**


End file.
